She came back
by MiaMeadows
Summary: "You are not seriously going to make me walk all the way there are you?" Sarah is stuck in the Labyrinth again, Jareth is up to his old tricks and her friends seem to have deserted her. A story in two parts.
1. Part One: Back again

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Labyrinth or anything else in this story for that matter. **

Sarah was admiring the reflection in her looking glass. There had been four winters since she had rescued Toby from the Labyrinth and for the first time in years she found herself thinking about the Goblin King. I mean, sure, he had crossed her mind on the occasional lonely night, but this time she was really thinking.

It wasn't as if she had ever been in love with him or anything. She had just been a silly little girl who had fallen for a character in a story book. She never actually expected to meet him in real life and when she did it was hardly the fairytale romance she had been anticipating. As a mature eighteen year old looking back at her childish past she wondered whether the whole thing hadn't just been a dream or a girlish fantasy.

She speculated as to whether or not he still watched her (which obviously he didn't because it was all in her head). It was a creepy thought, though, and she got up to shut her curtains just in case. There was an owl on the tree outside. There was _always_ an owl on the tree outside.

It was ridiculous really; she had a wonderful boyfriend, a beautiful little brother, a loving father and a tolerable step-mother. There was no reason for her to stray into a make-believe world. So she decided then and there to throw away all her old toys that reminded her of the labyrinth. The statue of the goblin king, the Esher poster, the music box, everything. She started by emptying her drawers and that's where she went so terribly wrong.

You see, in the bottom of one drawer she found her old book. The Labyrinth. And she couldn't help but open it. And then she couldn't help but read it.

By five o'clock she had forgotten that she was supposed to be studying, by six o'clock she had forgotten that she was supposed to give Toby his dinner, by seven o'clock she had forgotten that she had a date that night and was supposed to leave half an hour ago and by eight, well, what can I say? She was lost.

When Sarah had reached the final chapter she felt a sudden breeze and looking up she realised that she had somehow left her bedroom without noticing. When she discerned where she was it was quite a shock.

It was the Labyrinth.

"You have got to be kidding me." She said, to no one in particular, since she seemed to be totally alone.

She wondered whether this was just another dream, but it felt eerily real this time. There was no sign of that little dwarf thing, what's-his-name. So she knocked on the doors herself.

"You are not seriously going to make me walk all the way there are you?" she yelled at the doors as she pounded her fists on them.

They opened. And somehow the Labyrinth seemed to have fallen even further into disrepair in her absence.

Feeling exceedingly aggravated she went through the first opening she found and took great cares to damage as many things as she could on her way.

She ran into several little goblins and found a fiendish delight in giving them a good kick if they got too close. She was, quite simply, over it.

She made doubly sure that she didn't fall into any Oubliettes especially since she wasn't sure that what's-his-name would be there to let her out this time. She wondered where the big hairy thing was too, and the little fox and his dog. But no one befriended her this time, no one helped her. Probably because she kept kicking them and all they were doing was trying to warn her.

Hours passed and Sarah was getting more and more agitated by the minute, why couldn't Jareth just show himself and get it over with? She was also starving but she didn't want to end up stuck in a weird dream-world-bubble again so she ignored the noises coming from her stomach.

Finally something happened, though, it wasn't particularly pleasant. The ground beneath her simply opened up and she found herself falling down a narrow tunnel. When she did finally reach the bottom one sniff of the air told her where she was. The Bog of Eternal Stench.

She hadn't fallen in, thank God, and she hadn't even hurt herself because she had landed on something big and furry. It was Ludo. He was looking a lot older than the last time she had seen him, his fur was turning grey and his face was lined with wrinkles.

"Ludo?"

He was a long time in replying.

"Sarah?"

"How long have you been down here?"

"Long time."

She shuddered to think, had he been here the whole time she had been gone? A whole four years living in this smell would drive a person mad.

"Friend?" he asked.

"Yes Ludo, I'm your friend. Sorry I haven't called. I've been pretty busy."

He didn't say anything else he just sat back down and stared at his feet.

She didn't bother talking to him anymore. She was sure he had been sent here for helping her. It was all her fault. She started to worry about what had happened to her other friends in the Labyrinth. They had surely been punished for their betrayal as well.

When she found that damned Goblin King she was going to have to give him a piece of her mind and her fist. So she headed for the bridge but, of course, the bridge wasn't there anymore and there were no rocks to walk across either. She wondered if Jareth hadn't ordered all the rocks in the Labyrinth to be destroyed. She wouldn't have put it past him.

Well, she thought, surely there must be another way out of here. And there was, of course, only poor Ludo wasn't smart enough to find it. In the other direction she found a path that led to a stream. Ludo followed her reluctantly, he had, it seemed, a fear of water and thus never ventured near the stream. If he had, as Sarah made him now, he would have realised the further he followed it the less he could smell the bog.

Finally they could follow it no further; the stream ran through a grate in a huge stone wall. Sarah waded across with her jeans rolled up to her knees. But Ludo wouldn't budge, no matter how she coaxed and pushed him there was no way she could get him to move. So she left him there. _At least he doesn't have to put up with the smell anymore_ she thought.

Once she was on the other side of the stream she followed the stone wall until she came to an archway. Through the archway she could see the Castle. Somehow she had found a backdoor into the Goblin City. The streets were almost deserted. A stray, scraggily chicken here and there were the only living things she saw. If it wasn't for all the curtains closing and doors locking around her she would have thought all the goblins were gone. But they were there, they were just hiding.

When she reached the doors to the castle there was no way she could push them open without Ludo's help so instead she lifted up a grate beside the stairs and climbed in.

When she emerged from the tunnel she was in a tiny, cold, wet, stone room. A voice somewhere in the darkness said her name.

"Sarah?"


	2. Part Two: The confrontation

"Who's there?"

Her eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness; but the voice sounded very familiar.

"Sarah is that really you?"

"Who are you?"

"It's Me, Hoggle."

"Hoggle?" she said, "where are you, I can't see, what is this place?"

"Over here" he said, "this is the dungeon."

Sarah felt her way to his side. It wasn't difficult seeing as there was hardly room for two people in the dungeon. His hands were chained to the wall. He was as cold as ice.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Jareth put me in here after I helped you in the Labyrinth. He was pretty furious."

"What happened to Sir Didymus?"

"He got let off pretty easy seeing as how he didn't actually disobey his orders at the bridge. He's working in the throne room now where Jareth can keep an eye on him."

"Listen Hoggle I can get you out of here, you just have to crawl through that grate and you'll be in the city, from there you can make a break for it."

"Only problem is I'm stuck in these chains."

"No problem," she said "you have the key."

"What?"

"On your belt, with all your other keys to the doors in the Labyrinth, surely it's amongst them."

So without asking she took his keys and tried each one in the lock. The fourth one worked.

"Gee, thanks Sarah. You know, I didn't think you would ever come back."

"Hey sorry it took me so long."

So Hoggle was gone, scurrying back up the tunnel she had just vacated. Only problem was now she was stuck in the dungeons.

But soon enough a Goblin came along to let her out and he led her to the throne room. Jareth hadn't aged a day. He was sitting on his throne; a bottle in one hand and a crystal in the other.

"Hello Sarah" he said, without looking up, "I had hoped you would come sooner, but, well, you're here now."

"What do you want Jareth?" she said in a very annoyed voice.

"What do I want? Oh Sarah you are funny. I want what I've always wanted. You."

He took a swig from his bottle.

"Well I hate to break it to you Goblin King but you can't have me."

"Then why are you here?"

"Look pal, I have a boyfriend and he will be very pissed off when he hears about this. I wouldn't be surprised if he came down here to beat you up himself."

He laughed a cruel, ironic laugh.

"Oh Sarah you disappoint me. Stop lying to yourself. You know why you're here."

Sarah had stopped listening, something she did quite often, but this time it was because she had seen Sir Didymus. His feet were shackled and he was sweeping the filth on the floor out a window. Sarah's heart broke. Of all the things she had seen that day this was the worst. Sir Didymus that poor, brave, little fox forced to work for this scum.

Jareth was still talking but she chose to ignore him. Instead she took Hoggle's keys from her belt and walked straight over to the little Knight and freed him from his bonds. He had a little trouble walking so she whistled for Ambrosius who poked his head out from around the corner. His fur was all in knots and it looked as though the other goblins had been using him as a mop.

"You wanted to come back Sarah," said Jareth as she helped Didymus to sit upon his noble steed once more.

"As if!" she yelled.

"You wouldn't be here if you hadn't wished it."

"Wished it? You must have made a mistake, I would never had wished to come back to this filthy place."

"Then why did you get my statue back out, why did you read my book again, why would you gather together everything that reminded you of me?"

"Because I was going to throw them out you stalker! Stop watching me it's creepy!"

"Oh Sarah Sarah Sarah. You know deep down this is what you wanted. You've always loved me, just like I've always loved you."

"Listen to me, I may have loved you once, but that was before I met you, before I knew what a monster you are. How could you do this to my friends?"

"Because they took you away from me."

"Look Jareth there is no way I would ever want to be with you, I have never wanted to…"

"Not even when we danced together?"

That had silenced her. It was true she had been somewhat bewitched by the goblin king when they had first met, and she had danced with him that one time, for a few minutes there he had almost won her.

"No, not even then."

"Oh I see, my mistake then."

"Yes it was" she said, but it was too late, Jareth had grabbed Sir Didymus by his tail and was dangling him out the window.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this Sarah," he said "but if you don't agree to stay here with me forever I will be forced to take drastic action."

"You can't force me to love you!"

"I can do whatever I want."

"Don't do it" said Sir Didymus as he took a bite out of Jareth's hand and went tumbling out the window. Ambrosius' howls were heard for miles.

Sarah screamed and ran to the window, the ground was too far away for her to see, but there was no way he could have survived that fall.

"You killed him" she sobbed.

But Jareth was already disappearing into his room of staircases.

She followed him. What else could she do?

"Jareth!" she screeched, "send me home right now!"

She couldn't see him. So she started climbing staircases at random, blinded by pain and tears she scrambled up stairs and tumbled down again. Suddenly she ran headfirst into a wall of fur. It wasn't a wall though, she realised as she stepped back, it was Ludo and Hoggle was next to him. Ludo was carrying something crumpled in his huge hairy arms.

"Hey Sarah, I hooked up with Ludo at the city walls then as we were walking towards the castle we…"

"I know, you found Sir Didymus' body. Jareth threw him out the window."

"Well sort of, but we didn't find him, Ludo caught him."

"What?"

A little face peered over the edge of Ludo's arm and it was instantly licked by Ambrosius. "Did I miss any of the action?"

Sarah had never been so happy in her life.

"You're alive!"

"I don't suppose this means you will forgive me then?" said Jareth, appearing from somewhere.

"No chance, you need to send me home right now, and you need to guarantee the freedom and safety of my friends."

"Ok, I'll do it, if you give me one thing in return."

"What?"

"A kiss."

"Deal."

It was, quite frankly, the most amazing kiss she had ever experienced. But it wasn't enough to make her stay.

"A deal's a deal Jareth," she said, flushed and breathless.

"So it is."

Sarah blinked and she was home. It was midnight and she had seven messages on her phone from her boyfriend. Somehow, she didn't think she would call him back. Instead she opened her curtains. It was raining. There was an owl on the tree outside. There was _always_ an owl on the tree outside. She wondered if maybe she should invite him in to dry off.

She opened the window.


End file.
